“Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is…” (Romans 8:27)

What is Mind Manipulation and where does it come from? Is perhaps a question many have asked and wondered if they can be affected by it? Actually, many Christians are affected by mind manipulation and are presently suffering from it spiritually.

There are many types of manipulating techniques and ways a manipulator uses to achieve exactly what s/he wants. Many Christians are unaware that they have been under the influence of some sort of mind manipulating scheme or some form of mind controlling effort. Some will even deny that they can and have been affected. However, this study will reveal that most Christians, if not all Christians have been under a manipulating spell that has caused them to purchase a product, either celebrate a holiday or feel a certain way about something or someone.

A great number of Christians are still under the influence of mind control and are unaware that they are being deceived. In fact, most people who are under some sort of mind control would deny that they are being manipulated and believe that they are acting under their freewill. However, they mimic and mirror their manipulator. Most of the time, these techniques are done cleverly, gradually and absolutely deceitfully.

The mind is connected to the spirit. Many people fail to believe or even understand this truth. Interestingly enough, even though the mind is housed in the brain, if the brain fails to function, meaning as “brain dead” the mind is still intact: how? Allan Turner (1998) explains it this way “…the brain is a part of man’s physical body that is used by his spiritual nature. …The physical brain is not the mind of man.

The mind is totally spirit and is linked or correlated with the brain only while man is physically alive. How do we know this? The Bible tells us so. In Luke 16:19-31, the Lord teaches that individuals without fleshy bodies continue to exist after physical life has ceased…” (p. 7) Therefore, the mind and the controlling of it profoundly connect with spiritual life, so much so, that mind-related scriptures are found throughout the Bible. Scriptures like “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind stayed on thee:” (Isaiah 26:3) and “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:5) that not only encourage the people of God but give indication that the mind can be controlled, depending upon what it focuses on the most. The mind connects to the heart also, which extends the list of mind-related issues that can be located in the Bible. We see this clearly in Proverbs 23:7a, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” and in Matthew 12:34b “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

The mind is the ultimate source of all behavior; it is the center of human being. This complex machine operates inseparably with the human soul and the spirit. The mind is also powerful, but very vulnerable and susceptible to those things it cannot resist. This means that if anyone can break into the human mind, then they can successfully manipulate or control the entire body. Many perfected techniques have been formulated to control the mind in order to control people. These techniques are generally used and created by the secular world; empowered by Satan. Satan is a great deceiver.

His efforts are always directed towards the mind of a Christian. If he can cause doubt, fear, guilt or any other negative emotion in a Believer’s mind, his chances of mind manipulation become extraordinarily great. Look at Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis Chapter 3. Eve was beguiled by the serpent’s craftiness to the point of mind control. Eve knew not to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” but something went wrong. The serpent lied! He assured Eve that she would not die if she ate the fruit, in fact he guaranteed her that she would become just like God. This was too good too be true to Eve and so she ate the fruit, and the taste was out of this world. Generous Eve passed the tasty produce to her husband Adam to share in the delicacy of death, which propelled mankind into pain, suffering and separation.

11 Comments on "Resisting Mind Manipulation, Lesson 02"

“All that glitters are not gold and not all that calls me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of God.Therefore believers should have there loins girt about with truth so as to withstand the present day mind manipulators”

I can agree with the majority of the lesson but one statement gives me pause. “In Luke 16:19-31, the Lord teaches that individuals without fleshy bodies continue to exist after physical life has ceased…” (p. 7)” Luke 16:19-31 is a parable about our earthly actions and not a factual statement on literal life and death. Bible states in Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” This is the wisdom of Solomom.

Franklena, thank you for an excellent and well presented comment! I too was concerned by the use of Jesus parable here. The use of the reference from Ecclesiastes I found to be very useful, thanks for making that connection for us. I will think on that Old Testament passage.

When I am not sure of something that is claimed from a single verse it is my practice to seek context, by reading the chapter the verse comes from, the chapter before that, and the chapter following: something I encourage all believers to do.

The context for this verse is a rebuke given to the Pharisees who were ridiculing Jesus’ teaching concerning money. Before the parable Jesus, in verses 16 and 17, states the following: v.16. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. V.17. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”

I would suggests that the parables that follow are for the purpose of expanding on this initial teaching, that those who rely on the Law have no hope, that only those who embrace Jesus can enter the Kingdom of God.

The Law has been completed by the coming of Jesus: hence the comment the Law and the Prophets were until John. Jesus, whose coming John proclaimed, is the arrival of God’s Kingdom on earth. From this point on it will be grace, obtained through the Spirit, by association with Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

However, the warning here is clear, the Law has not passed away, it is still there to condemn: if it were not from what then would we be saved?

I’m not sure why Jesus immediately follows with a comment on divorce, still thinking that one through. However, what should be noted is that the first parable focuses on death and judgement connected to riches misused on earth, involves Abraham who is arguably the ultimate symbol for salvation by faith not works, and references resurrection: I suggest that this is an allusion to Jesus future death and resurrection, and the fact that even this would not convince most of the Jews to believe in Jesus.

If we are to take the parable as being literal, we will be presented with some serious challenges: including the apparent contradiction with the verses in Ecclesiastes which you pointed out already.

1. Do poor people, though sinners receive salvation simply because they suffered on earth? Throughout church history teachings like this were used to encourage the poor, not for the purpose of comfort, but rather to keep them in their place.

2. Are we, or at least suffering poor people, carried by angels to the side of Abraham?

3. Can those in suffering in ‘Hades’ see and communicate with those in ‘Heaven’? I use quotation marks because there are disputes concerning if Jesus is referring here to Heaven and Hell or not.

There are other concerns but the point has been covered well enough I think.

We must all be cautious with the use of verses to support a particular teaching, to be diligent in our search of the scriptures to determine if the teaching is true or not.

I have other thoughts I would like to share, but I will do that in a different post, as this one is already far too long .

I’ve written this for the purpose of helping to equip the followers of Christ, and it is my hope that this will be the outcome. No disrespect is intended to the author and hopefully none is taken.

May God’s Spirit increase the knowledge of truth and its application in all our lives!

PS. Regarding my previous posting on Jesus’ parable. Reading over it again I realize I failed to change something before posting. Of course the author is using a parable, not a single verse. However, the same principle for Bible study still applies, be it a single verse, a parable, a collection of verses, or even a chapter, making sure of context is essential for accurately determining a correct interpretation and teaching.

As I wrote in my first post, there are some other things I intended to comment on. One of them concerns our understanding of the work of the enemy.

Regarding what is being taught here I applaud the author’s goal, to help us become aware of the attempts being made to manipulate our minds, and empowering us to resist such attempts.

The use of psychological methods to manipulate people is common in the media, in politics, and even in churches. Such influences definitely need to be guarded against, and knowledge is the key to being able to do that.

However, I am not convinced that such techniques are “empowered by Satan”, if the author’s meaning is that the reason these techniques work is because Satan makes them work. Instead I suggest that these techniques work because they make use of the natural psychological processes that govern all of us.

For example, it is natural for men and women to be attracted to one another; advertisers harness this natural process for the purpose of selling things. But the reason it works is because of the way we were created, not because of the enemy’s power.

When God created Adam and Eve He did so in a way that involved the establishment of natural processes. We can see these processes in action in areas such as physical growth, reproduction, and the ‘fight or flight’ instinct. Creation was meant to be self-governing, a process begun that would continue without further acts of creation being required. Genesis 2:2 tells us that God ceased His creative activity on Day 6: the Hebrew word used means ‘ceased’ not ‘rested’.

His activity now is sustaining His creation Colossians 1:17 “17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Though God continues to be intimately involved with His creation, and in the case of miracles sometimes disrupting the natural process, creation is nonetheless a system that operates according to the set of natural processes that God put in place at the start.

Why is it important whether we accept that Satan empowers these techniques or not? First, I would suggest because the focus for dealing with such techniques should be the natural not the spiritual: in case some might think that they need to be ‘delivered’ from them, or need to ask for the power to resist them.

Knowledge about techniques that are used to manipulate enables us to recognize when they are being used against us, and that removes their effectiveness. When we know someone is trying to make us do something, because we know how they are trying to do it, we can refuse to go along with it. Techniques for manipulating the mind can only work when we are not aware of them.

Second, because seeking, discerning, and staying with truth is vitally important for all believers. The accounts we have of Satan in God’s Word reveal that one of his strategies is to take the truth and change it only slightly. A half truth is far more difficult to recognize than an outright lie. By being diligent in testing all spiritual teachings, we develop the habit of being on our guard always. If we are taught that the enemy is working in a certain way, we had better be sure that what we are being told is correct:

1 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

I’ve written this for the purpose of helping to equip the followers of Christ, and it is my hope that this will be the outcome. No disrespect is intended to the author and hopefully none is taken.

May God’s Spirit increase the knowledge of truth and its application in all our lives!

There is one last thing I want to comment on, and that is the statement that “Eve was beguiled by the serpent’s craftiness to the point of mind control.” If the author intends to state that Eve was under the serpent’s control then I would have to disagree.

Eve already knew it would be wrong to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Gen 3:2. Where she learned this fact we are not told, Adam was told before Eve was created Gen 2:16-22, but nonetheless it is made clear that she was aware of the command. This is important because it clearly makes her responsible for her actions; she knew what not to do.

Believing that the enemy, due to his cleverness, was able to trick Eve into doing wrong, or even worse use ‘mind control’ to get her to do the wrong thing, raises the question ‘Was Eve really responsible for her actions?’

When someone is under the control of someone else, which is surely what control of the mind involves, then they are not responsible for their actions. If they are not controlling their own mind they cannot make decisions for themselves. If Eve was not in control of her own mind then she was not responsible for her actions. However, Genesis 3 makes it very clear that Eve was in control, and that she was responsible for her actions.

As far as I can see there is nothing in Genesis 3 that shows Eve was beguiled (charmed or enchanted) by the serpent’s cleverness, or subject to some form of mind control, or any form of manipulation for that matter. Let’s look at what actually happens in Genesis 3 to show that this is the truth.

We find Eve and the serpent having a conversation. The serpent asks if God really said not to eat from any tree of the garden. Eve corrects him. The serpent replies that God is lying and has ulterior motives for commanding them not to eat from that tree; that really God is trying to prevent them from becoming like Him (at this point the serpent appears to cease to be a part of what follows). Eve has a look at the tree and makes the following decisions: the tree is good for food, it is a delight to look at, and the tree is desirable because it can make you wise. Following that evaluation, she acts, taking some fruit and eating it. Then she gives some to her husband and he eats too.

In all of this there is no indication that the serpent, though involved at the beginning, beguiles or uses mind control to get Eve to eat from the tree.

The Genesis account of Eve being tempted by the serpent to eat from the tree is being used here to support the teaching that “…if Satan can cause doubt, fear, guilt or any other negative emotion in a Believer’s mind, his chances of mind manipulation become extraordinarily great.” However, the Genesis account does not teach this and I would suggest it is perhaps unwise to suggest that it does, or to use it to support this teaching.

If the teaching is true then it will surely be found clearly stated elsewhere. I encourage all of us to search the scriptures to find such evidence, and post what you find here.

For the present though I think that this teaching does not exist in God’s Word and therefore passages to support it will not be found.

I’ve written this for the purpose of helping to equip the followers of Christ, and it is my hope that this will be the outcome. No disrespect is intended to the author and hopefully none is taken.

May God’s Spirit increase the knowledge of truth and its application in all our lives!

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